"Certainly, certainly, with pleasure; but I warn you that you will not get much out of him. He is the closest Israelite imaginable; and a golden ointment is the only 'open sesame' to his lips."
M. de Fleury wrote Henriques' street and number on his card, and handed it to Maurice.
Meantime Gaston de Bois, in spite of the pertinacious attentions of the Duke de Montauban, had approached Bertha, and would have drawn her into conversation had she not exultingly communicated to him the discovery she had made concerning Madeleine's jewels. Was it the sudden mention of that name which threw M. de Bois into a state of almost uncontrollable agitation? Why did he flush, and stammer, and try to change the subject, and, stumbling with suppressed groans over his words, as though they had been sharp rocks, talk such unmitigated nonsense? Why did he so soon steal away from Bertha's side? Why did he not approach her again for the rest of the evening? Could it be that her first suspicion was right, and that he loved Madeleine? If not, why should her name again have caused him such unaccountable emotion?
CHAPTER XV.
THE EMBROIDERED HANDKERCHIEF.
Maurice lost no time, the next morning, in seeking out the crafty old Jew. Henriques was a vender of jewels that came into his hands through private sources. There was considerable risk in his traffic; for it was just possible some of the precious stones transferred to him might have been acquired in a manner not strictly legal. Perhaps it was not part of his policy to acquaint himself with the history of gems which he bought at a bargain and reaped an enormous profit in selling; for, when Maurice endeavored to extract some information concerning the diamonds purchased by the Marquis de Fleury, the Jew protested entire ignorance in regard to their prior ownership; stating that they were brought to him by one of his confréres, of whom he asked no questions,—that he had purchased them at a ruinous price, and resold them to the marquis without a centime's benefit: a very generous proceeding on his part, he asserted; adding, with a ludicrous assumption of importance, that he highly esteemed the marquis, and now and then allowed himself the gratification of favoring him in business transactions.
"But the name of the person from whom your friend received the jewels is certainly on his books, and, however numerous the hands through which they may have passed, they can be traced back to their original owner," observed Maurice.
"Not so easily, monsieur, not so easily. Purchaser has nothing to do with original owner. Jewels worth something, or jewels worth nothing,—that's the point; names of parties holding the articles of no consequence."
"But you certainly inquire from what source the jewels offered you proceed?"